Living Out Loud

Sometimes when you live out loud a.k.a. share your world via facebook…real life hits hard and you wonder what there is to say? You feel the need to say more or less or “like” what others have to say about your story. Sometimes we need to simply heal and that includes more quiet and less input or output. But over the past few days I realized that in doses social media is a good place to celebrate the life we live. Just read this quote and it makes loads of sense to me:“Here’s the truth about telling stories with your life. It’s going to sound like a great idea, and you’re going to get excited about it, and then when it comes time to do the work, you’re not going to want to do it. It’s like that with writing books, and it’s like that with life. People love to have lived a great story, but few people like the work it takes to make it happen. But joy costs pain.” – Donald Miller, A Million Miles in a Thousand New Years Day

Most folks would look at our story and see it more as a Greek tragedy than a “great story,” but we saw good as we lived this story and we know God is good. Thank you Donald for the reminder: the cost of joy=pain. I think our stories need to move more quickly to this extreme as opposed to the incessant avoidance of pain…it is not natural nor is it wise. The great adventure that we all want requires us to fully live and live life to the full. Life to the full embodies joy and pain. Joy and pain are inseparable friends who rarely experience life for long without the other paying a visit. I would not trade the past year of our lives for anything. We lived a great story. I will continue to live (and show up on Facebook from time to time) because though we are often knocked down by the pain of our circumstances…our story matters…and the Author works all things for good…not evil. The final chapter of the story has a happy ending…so we write…and we live our story out loud. Not for us…but to honor the Author.